On a patio outside Bob's at the Marina, a waterfront grill, you can eat beside docks and boat sheds. Ducks haul out on the docks. Boats come and go.

Boaters climb the gangway from the docks to get a burger. It's cool and fresh by the water. The place tranquil, like Delta culture. You feel the Delta's pull. You want to go out there. But it's good to sit there and let it come to you.

Why are there so few waterfront bars and cafes in Stockton? The city boasts miles of waterfront. Some of it is beautiful and riparian, some industrial in a cool urban way.

All of it is unique. Organic. Yet much lies vacant. It might as well be a gravel pit in Temecula.

Of course, there are several eateries in the Waterfront Warehouse. Good ones. But still. Miles of waterways meander through the city, including certain locations that seem ideal.

An expert with the Urban Land Institute said a sports bar would succeed next to the arena. Where's the sports bar?

Where's the full-on Delta resort on the Channel Head? There are 10,000 boat slips on the Delta, not even counting San Francisco Bay. Between local yokels and boaters, surely there is a market.

There is, said Bill Wells, the executive director of the California Delta Chambers.

"Stockton's got the best waterfront there is," Wells said. "You guys got that perfect harbor. They don't have to contend with the currents."

There's six miles of north bank between downtown and Louis Park, not one bar or cafe on it. The Catfish Cafe near Interstate 5 closed. The taco stand at the Louis Park boat ramps closed.

Out March Lane, at Buckley Cove, there's a park, boat ramps, boat yards, several great vantages on the channel ... but no cafe. You have to go all the way up to Bob's and its neighbor, Garlic Bros. restaurant, in Lincoln Village West Marina.

Why aren't there more places like this? Stockton is like Venice with its back turned to the water.

Waterfront spots are difficult and risky, said Fritz Grupe, the developer who built Lincoln Village West as a water-oriented neighborhood in the 1960s.

"They're harder than hell to finance," Grupe said. Banks are skittish, "Because the success ratio on them is so tough. ... Who comes through the fog on Tuesday night?"

Successful waterfront joints are near marinas where people use boats as a second home, Grupe said. Places with lots of traffic. It helps if the place features a hospitable workaholic owner.

It is now generally recognized that City Hall mishandled waterfront redevelopment by leading with publicly funded stadiums, not residential projects. Retail investors want "rooftops" - homes, preferably occupied by people with expendable income.

As many as three restaurants were supposed to pop up around the arena and ballpark. The restaurant pads sit empty to this day. Awaiting urban pioneers, young people mostly, who want an urban waterfront lifestyle. They, in turn, await homes.

Then - the home run! - investors open affordable bar-restaurants with docks that capture the character of the waterfront and lure Stocktonians and Bay/Delta boaters.

"I think if you had the right thing there," said Wells, "it should be a gold mine."